A crazy busy work schedule, and quite a bit of travel has left me little time to update the blog. I got some tough love from my brother and Maya about. (See guys, told you I’d update it!)

Ok, so a little while back I got the chance to shoot a late engagement session for Maya and my good friends Matt and Jill. I’ve known Matt since college, back when he had a rad fro and a long board… in Kansas. As if that wasn’t enough, he dwarfed the rest of us Design kids by a good half foot.

Matt met Jill shortly after he moved out to California and fell in Love (yes I used a capital on purpose, it was that immediate). Fast forward a couple years, a lot of early morning wakeboard sessions, surfing, biking, hiking, and kite surfing and they got engaged a day after they bought a beautiful house together.

That’s where our story begins on this blog, as it was our first shooting location. Enjoy (we did)! Special thanks to Maya for all her pose and shot ideas.

A quick change of clothes and then we cruised down to the Encinitas downtown to grab a few shots before nightfall. I loved all the motion in Jill’s dress when she was dancing!

I was torn on whether to include this one or not, but I just LOVE the feeling of it regardless of it being pretty dark. To me, it feels like something you’d catch this couple doing… sitting outside, enjoying the night and chatting it up until the stars are out.

So, I’ve been crazy busy lately and haven’t been able to update the blog, for which I’m sorry. Don’t worry though, because there are a TON of photos coming your way both in this post and from the wedding I shot this last weekend (congrats Michael & Sanya).

First, from my latest trip with Ms. Maya back to Oregon to hangout with her folks in Ashland, OR. It struck me halfway through editing that I hadn’t done any B&Ws, the pretty greens and blues were just to delicious to throw away. I didn’t bring my camera with me everywhere we went, but I’m really pumped that I got a chance to bring it to Crater Lake and to see the Natural Bridge waterfall.

The top picture was right after we landed in Medford. We quickly (well, after the 30min baggage claim) made our way to Ashland. Giant trees lining the interstate greeted us before our turn off to Ashland. The tree’s scale compared to the valley surrounding them made them feel like a barrier that you had to pass through in order to get the tiny town.

The view from their garden and deck was breathtaking. Mountains, valley, green trees… they had it all!

And, of course, Henny (closer) and Penny (further) the chickens! Who faithfully produced a brown egg each per day. Laying in the sideways washer that Gary fabricated as their den. Pretty nifty!

On our last day in Oregon, we trekked up to Crater Lake (Maya and her mom looking out at below).

Believe it or not… that is WATER, not sky. The water is that blue. It had a description near by that talked about how the red and yellow light waves are canceled out in the deep water, only allowing the bright blue wave to be reflected. Gotta love science.

I “distressed” the lodge picture, because of it’s classic look. It felt like it was begging for it…

The girls stopped often to check out a certain budding plant or flower. Most of the time being able to name it and figure out if it was going to bloom or already had this year… meanwhile, I took pictures, ha. 

I hope everyone is doing well – leave me a note if you’ve been to or around this area. I can’t wait to get a chance to go back!!

I took quite a few pics (of course), so check back soon as I’ll be updating the blog with those pictures. For now you’ll have to make do with the above picture just below the Natural Bridge over the Rogue River. You can see in the picture one of the many tunnels originally created by lava from the moutain above (which created Crater Lake). Hope everyone had a great weekend! Leave me a comment if you’ve been up to the North West lately and where you went!